Zutara Week 2019
by Excited-Insomniac
Summary: Zutara Week 2k19: Gifts, Speak, Shattered, Mentor, Youth, Found, Easier. All genres, all settings, all Zutara!
1. Gifts

**Gifts**

"Cuddle close, my little ones, and listen to my stories while the storm blows out. Never worry, we are safe and warm here and the snow is much too cold to want to get us.

"Listen close, my little loves, for the story I tell is from many upon many years ago, more years than hairs on your heads, and tells of great deeds and great loves and great gifts.

"Back in the days of the Airbenders' absence, when the Fire Nation grew hungry and huge, your ancestors were born on opposite sides of a war. Zuko, the Prince of the conquering Nation, and Katara, last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. When they were young, neither knew they would go on to be heroes. Neither knew they would go on to fall in love. Neither knew they were going to change the world.

"Neither knew when they were young the gifts they would give each other.

"The first gift he ever gave her was the gift of listening. The first moment of connection between enemies was a turning point in the war, though at first it didn't seem so.

"The first gift she gave to him was doubt. She inspired him to do surpass his own expectations for himself and he achieved great things and brought the Avatar to mastery of his bending art.

"The next gift he gave to her was his life. In a moment of direst danger, he gave up his fate and responsibility to the world in the effort to save her from a treacherous attack.

"The next gift she gave him was her heart. Despite his peoples' prejudice, despite the Avatar's desire for her, despite everything that stood in their way, they loved one another and proved it over and over.

"From then on, they gave the world gifts. They gave the world a stable Fire Nation that worked together with the other Nations to bring about harmony and prosperity. They gave the world four excellent Princes and Princesses who went on to become heroes in their own right. They gave the world peace at last.

"And they gave you, my little grandchildren, a worthy bloodline whose roots run deep and wide, that you may always rely on in times of hardship, even in the bitter winter cold when your parents go to commune with the Spirits. Now snuggle tight and close your eyes, for I have more stories for this long cold night, and if you're good there will be another of your many-times great-grandparents…."

**A/N**

**This is the first Zutara Week I've participated in for a loong time, so I'm super excited for this! I've made it a personal challenge to upload something every day, even if it's just a weird little drabble. Maybe I'll write something good, maybe not, but hey, we're here for the ship and that's what matters :) **

**That said, I'm not especially pleased with how this one turned out. I was going for sweeping and epic and historical and definitely did not hit the mark, lol, oh well. Better luck next time! **

**All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom. **

**E.I. signing out**


	2. Speak(ed)

**Speak(ed)**

The breeze off the ocean was brisk and took the edge off the bright sunlight. The black sand of Ember Island seemed to waver in the heat, but everyone stayed cool by regularly dipping in the water, resting under umbrellas, and drinking copious quantities of watermelon juice.

Fifteen years since the end of the War had practically flown, Katara reflected, looking out across the beach over her extended family. Zuko was nearby, chatting with Toph and Suki, Suki rocking her and Sokka's younger son, Suda, on her hip. If she had a way to travel back to half her life time ago, and told herself that she would someday wind up married to the Lord of the Fire Nation in a world working hard towards peace she'd helped to bring, she'd have dismissed it as a crazy dream. Yet here they all were. Her seven-year-old son Iroh silently built sandcastles with his five-year-old cousin Tuluk. Her daughter Kya was showing Toph and Aang's daughter Lin some Waterbending move she'd invented. At three years old she was already enormously talented and Katara couldn't wait to see how she developed. Lin, a couple of years older, was already a formidable Earthbender as well, but couldn't sandbend yet, so she couldn't reciprocate Kya's demonstration. Grandpa Iroh, as he had become at the moment of little Iroh's birth, was helping Aang look after Aang and Toph's one-year-old triplets, Bumi, Gyatso, and Malu, each balder than the last and smileyer than the last. She privately wondered, and knew Aang hoped, that at least one of them would turn out to inherit his element. He and Toph were still only 27, had plenty of time for more children if none of the ones they had turned out to be Airbenders, but how many more kids would they want after _triplets?_

As she watched, Sokka waded out of the water, tousling Tuluk and Iroh's heads as he passed, and headed up the beach towards her. "Hey, baby sister," he said, happy and joking. He'd arrived only the night before and they hadn't had time to catch up yet. She smiled, and hugged him. The cold wet of his skin felt good, and the solidity of him. Scars new since the end of the War decorated his shoulders and chest—the War hadn't magically ended with the defeat of Ozai after all even though most hostilities had in fact stopped—and each of them had made her more and more grateful to have him in her life.

"Hello, ancient brother," she replied playfully, and smiled to hear him laugh. "How was the trip?"

"Fine," he said, waving a hand. "Air pirates over the Mo Ce, but that's normal."

She nodded, still amazed at the fact that it was now normal, even expected, to travel such huge distances by airship. Just more that her fourteen-year-old self wouldn't have believed, though the presence of pirates would have made her feel better. At least that hadn't changed. "I know Suki and the boys are well," she said. Her sister-in-law had arrived two days before with her sons in tow, and they'd had several lengthy conversations already.

"They're great," Sokka glowed. "I'm showing Tuluk how to use a boomerang. Dad carved him a little one to practice with. He's broken the neighbor's window with it, twice!"

Katara laughed aloud at his irrepressible pride.

"And you?" he asked. "Zuko seems Fire Lordly as ever. How's Kya's Waterbending?"

"Excellent," Katara said simply, her own pride swelling up to fill her voice. "She's what I could have been if I had had a teacher growing up. She'll surpass me someday. I can't wait."

Sokka beamed down at her, but then his expression faded into something more hesitant. "And Iroh?"

Her easy joy faded as well. "He… he's still silent," she said soberly. Four years ago, for a week that topped the list of terrible times in her life, Iroh had been kidnapped and held ransom. Not everyone had been happy with this foreign Fire Lady, after all, nor this mixed-race heir she'd given them. He'd been three years old, a happy, vivacious child already learning his basic Firebending forms from his father and namesake. When they'd finally tracked him down and gotten him back, seven and a half miserable, terrifying days later, he'd been utterly changed. He no longer smiled, laughed, bent. He no longer spoke. Katara had done everything she could think of, but the problem wasn't physiological and she couldn't fix it with healing. They'd done everything they possibly could to help him feel safe again, and protected, but knowing they'd already failed so badly once made their efforts feel insincere even to themselves. So he was seven, and silent. Whisperers in the Palace wondered if he would ever be fit to take the throne over from Zuko, but she refused to consider such difficult futures. He would recover, she believed that as deeply as she used to believe Aang could end the War. Of course it had turned out more complicated than that. But her certainty was deep and strong.

She'd said all this to Sokka before, and he didn't make her say it again. He just nodded and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned her head on him, relieved that he was there, and that he didn't argue with her or try to make her talk about those difficult futures she was working so hard to avoid.

They ended up sitting in the shade under the palm trees, conversation turning to Republic City and the Tribe and all the ongoing recovery projects they were all overseeing. Configurations along the beach changed: Aang took Lin swimming, Toph went to mind their babies, Kya got bored without someone to show off to and went to see what Iroh and Tuluk were up to, but then got in an argument with Tuluk, who came up the beach to sulk in Sokka's lap and ended up falling asleep under a towel against his dad's chest. Watching Sokka tenderly cover his son's head to keep the light out of his eyes made her so proud and happy for him that it was an effort not to cry.

The afternoon drifted on and Katara absently watched her son and daughter playing in the surf while Sokka drowsed next to her, Tuluk still snoozing on him. They looked amazingly similar, considering how different Katara and Zuko looked. They'd both ended up with the black of Zuko's hair with Katara's curliness, both with skin of a brown slightly lighter than Katara's. They both had Zuko's cheekbones and her chin. The only significant difference was that Iroh had Firebender-golden eyes while Kya's were true Water Tribe blue. Iroh stood in the shallow water, staring out towards the horizon, while Kya squatted next to him, making little ribbons of water dance between her hands. But all at once she looked up at her big brother with a face of total shock. Katara's heart hitched. Next thing she knew, Kya was pelting up the sand as fast as her chubby little three-year-old's legs could carry her, screaming, "Momma! Momma! Momma!"

"What, honey?" Katara started up in concern, but when Kya reached her she pulled her back down to the sand so she was looking her straight in the face. "Baby, what happened?" Katara asked urgently. Sokka and Tuluk had both woken up and were looking at them with identical wide blue eyes.

"He doed it! Iroh doed it!"

"What did he do?" she asked, perplexed and still worried.

Kya screwed up her face in a paroxysm of effort and finally managed, "Speaked!"

Something caught tight at her throat so it was an effort to say, "He spoke?"

Kya nodded vigorously. "He sayed, he sayed he wannana Fire-firebent again." She looked at her mother with utter clarity and an honestly only a child could feel. "Issa good fing, Momma?"

Katara's eyes had gone like arrows to her son, still standing in the water, but now facing the beach, looking right back at her and his sister. He still looked very serious: nothing was visibly or physically different about him. But something about his eyes seemed surer, and maybe his shoulders were straighter. There was a brightness in him that hadn't been there a second before.

"Yes," she whispered, feeling tears track down her face. "Yes, it's a very good thing."

**A/N**

**Somehow when I first saw the prompts I misread Speak as Speaked, so that's what I built this idea around. When I realized I'd made a mistake I was too invested to change, and here we are. **

**To anyone who's concerned, yes, Suyin will still be born in a few years, so Toph will have both of her canon daughters. I know I could have just made one of them an Airbender, but for some reason I have this very persistent headcanon of Taang triplets. I don't even ship Taang that much, but any time I put them together I'm like "Yep, it's triplet time." -shrugs-**

**All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom. **

**E.I. signing out**


	3. Shattered

**Shattered**

Katara had had no idea what to expect of the outcome of their confrontation with Azula. She had expected a formidable adversary, a decisive battle, heroism, fear, maybe injury. Maybe death. She hadn't expected, but hadn't been surprised by, Zuko's request that she stay out of the fight at first. He was right, in some ways, that one of them staying in reserve made more sense than both of them risking themselves at the same time. And he had the Comet's power to back him up, and training with the dragons, and she was his sister after all: of course the fight would have been personal.

And at first he had done very well: held his own confidently, fought her back a number of times. Azula was rattled, confused by Zuko's prowess where she had expected the inferior brother she was accustomed to. Katara had dared hope.

But with hope came trust in victory, and Azula's sudden treachery with her lightning had shocked her to the core. She had not expected this.

What she had expected still less was Zuko's immediate reaction of jumping in the way, ferocious and terrified for _her_.

What she had expected least of all was how, in the moment when she was sure he was dead, her heart shattered within her ribcage, releasing a blast of grief and rage that and fueled her through the fight with Azula that she then took over and finally won.

While Azula howled, she sprinted to Zuko's side, almost too afraid to see if he was still alive or not. That he had survived was ecstasy. That he loved her back was beyond miraculous. And every day they lived together from then on glued one more piece of her heart back together until she was whole once more.

**A/N**

**Corny? Sure. But I'm not here to write a masterpiece, I'm just here to have fun with my favorite ship of all time :)  
**

**All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom. **

**E.I. signing out**


	4. Found (1)

**Found (1) **

***A note on context: this is set in a universe where the Hundred Year War never started for some reason, so Iroh is Fire Lord, the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and Air Nomads are all healthy and happy, and Aang is a hundred-something year old man and respected Avatar. Okay, carry on. **

They say that sometimes the Spirits create matched people and let them loose in the world to wander, and see if they ever find each other. Some people think the Spirits do it for fun, or as a bet: will the matched set meet? Even from a far distance? Even from _this_ far a distance?

This time they met by accident at the Earth King's wedding. She was sixteen and he was eighteen and she was beautiful and he was handsome. Her parents regarded her with pride and hope, his with love and disdain. She was escorted by an esteemed warrior of the Tribe, young and skilled and full of promise and she liked him fine, though sometimes wondered that he spent more time looking at her brother than at her. He was escorted by the daughter of a noble his uncle favored, a girl clever and reserved who spoke without enthusiasm of the day they would become betrothed.

It was during an interlude between aspects of the ceremony: a ballroom, music, dancing, hors d'oeuvres, mingling and laughter. The Earth King and his almost-Queen paraded through, and guests bowed from all sides and as they straightened two sets of eyes found each other and fastened tight. She murmured some excuse to her warrior and let go his arm—he did not mind as he was speaking with her brother again—and across the room he told his lady some reason and she let him go without a word, only tightened her lips and turned away. They met in the middle of the space still empty from the royal couple's passing through, and even with strange certainty, a deep, foundational sureness as close to their souls as their names, there was hesitancy too.

"I..." He couldn't think of a question to ask. He couldn't stop looking at her.

"Me too," she said. His smile was a sunrise.

"Dance with me," he said, and held out his hand.

She took it.

From cross the ballroom, the aged Avatar looked on them, smiling gladly.

**A/N**

**Okay, when I started this, it WAS "Youth". These are my brainstorming notes: _Maybe this is a no-War AU where they're in love but everyone says they're too young? And they're like _****_"Screw you, Mom and Dad, we're gonna be together anyway!"_ But then it sorta grew a mind of its own and honestly I was too tired to fight it. And I kinda like it like this. And it's my fic, so so there. **

**I'm still gonna do Found again tomorrow cause I really like the original idea I had for it xP**

**All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom. **

**E.I. signing out**

**Update all of 5 seconds later: I FORGOT TODAY WAS "MENTOR". I SUCK AT TAKING NOTES, OKAY. I'LL DO "MENTOR" TOMORROW AND "FOUND" THE DAY AFTER. *goes and buries self in blankets like the embarrassed burrito she is* **


	5. Mentor

**Mentor**

Halfway through one of the innumerable parties and celebrations and things that all the great Heroes of the War (as the gaang was now called) had been asked/required to attend in the two weeks since the Ceasefire, as some clever moron had taken to calling it, Sokka felt a tap on his shoulder and turned and found Katara standing there, looking nervous and subdued in her new blue finery.

"Hey, sis, what's up? Good snacks, huh?"

She completely ignored his snack comment. "Would you go talk to Aang?"

Sokka blinked. "Uh, sure. Why?"

She shook her head. "If he doesn't tell you, I will later."

Weird. But he said, "Sure, okay," and followed her pointing finger out onto one of the balconies off the ballroom, to where Aang was standing at the banister, half hidden by the doorframe. As Sokka walked, Aang slowly squatted down till he was crouched on the ground, face down against his folded arms. Alarmed now, Sokka quickened his step—as much as he could with his leg only partially healed, at least.

"What the heck happened?" he said without preamble when he got outside.

Aang made a noise: it was halfway through a polar dog's whine and Grain-Gran singing (much as he loved her, that woman could not carry a tune).

"Okay... but that doesn't answer my question."

Aang just kept making sounds, but they slowly resolved into crying sounds, so Sokka felt like he had to stop joking. Instead he awkwardly lowered himself to the ground next to the young Avatar and sat and waited for him to cry himself out. It took a while.

When he finally subsided, Sokka asked, "So, uh, what did actually happen?"

Aang drew a shuddering breath and lifted his face out of his arms. "Katara rejected me."

Oooooh. He should have figured that one out on context clues. Remembering something Zuko said once about Sokka's own heartbreak, he tentatively said, "That's rough, buddy."

Aang nodded, fresh tears washing his face. "She said… she said there's someone else."

Interesting! It would be someone she knew well, certainly, which really narrowed things down. There was only one option, really, and Sokka had to say he approved. Zuko was a good guy. But it didn't seem that Aang had realized that yet, but he felt a bit guilty stealing Zuko's words to comfort Aang now. "That's… that's hard."

"I thought she loved me!" Aang cried. "I always thought… we'd be together forever. That she was my forever girl."

Sokka squinted at him, but as far as he could tell, the kid was serious. "Uh-huh," he said, trying not to sound skeptical.

"We were going to get married, and, and, have kids and stuff. Airbender kids!"

Sokka waited for him to mention Waterbending kids—or hell, nonbending kids! Katara was the only bender in their family and it was perfectly possible that her kids wouldn't have the ability! But Aang didn't seem to think of those possibilities. Despite wanting to point them out for him, Sokka kept his lips shut. Not the time, he thought, and also not even relevant anymore since Katara had forestalled the possibility anyway.

Aang didn't need prompting to keep talking though. "We even kissed a few times. I thought that meant—"

"Wait, you _did?"_ Sokka interrupted, and then winced at how incredulous he sounded. But Aang didn't seem to notice, just went on.

"—we'd be together. Isn't that what kissing means? She got all angry and said she was confused at the Ember Island play, but—"

"Wait, angry?" Sokka interrupted firmly this time, made sure Aang stopped talking. "Why would she get angry? She _wanted_ to kiss you…. Didn't she?"

Aang shifted uncomfortably. "Well, she said she was confused, but I thought if I _showed_ her how I felt then she'd…. understand…."

Sokka felt his face going thunderous. "Aang, what sort of idiot are you to kiss a girl without her permission?"

"Well she's rejected me now anyway, so what does it matter!" Aang flared angrily.

"Oh, it matters! You think maybe part of why she rejected you was that you kissed her when she didn't want you to?"

Aang stared at him, eyes wide. "You think that's why…?"

Sokka held up his hands. "No, no. You already said she had someone else, remember? But yeah, I'd say if you hadn't already sunk you last chance by that point, that would have done it."

Aang sank back against the banister, dejected all over again. Sokka sighed. The poor boy had so much to learn. But at least Katara didn't have to put up with his learning curve anymore.

**A/N**

**...in which Sokka takes the author's stance on a lot of the ending and the Kataang relationship in general. **

**Anyway, back on track with the prompts! I don't know how I had such a huge brain fart yesterday, but sometimes that's how things go, I guess. **

**All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom. **

**E.I. signing out**


	6. Found (2)

**Found (II)**

Zuko trudged along the sidewalk, sunk deep in a bad mood. Work was stupid, his dad was stupid, all his friends were stupid… Stupid stupid stupid. What would it cost to get a new life? Maybe that's what he could use his inheritance money from Aunt Li and Aunt Lo on, whenever they kicked the bucket.

Just then a glint on the edge of the sidewalk caught his eye: the corner of an old iPhone sticking out from under a bush. Like, _really_ old, maybe only a 4. Who still had a phone that old? He was going to walk past and ignore it, but then it was almost like Uncle materialized on his shoulder and asked, "But nephew, have you done your good deed for the day?"

Zuko stopped, rolling his eyes extremely hard, both at Uncle and at himself for listening to Uncle. He didn't do his good deed most days. But another thing Uncle said was that if you wanted to help yourself, you had to help someone else first, so maybe this was the universe giving him that chance or something. Whatever.

He bent and picked the phone up. The screen was badly cracked, but glowed to life when he pressed the home button. He went into the call history and touched the most recent contact, some girl's name.

The girl, whoever she was, picked up after the second ring, and boy was she mad. _"I told you I never wanted to talk to you again, asshole!" _

Zuko held the phone away from his ear. This is what you get for trying to do a good deed, he berated himself. Tinnitus and a headache. "Er," he said. "You know whose phone this is then?"

A short silence. Then, equal parts suspicious and confused, she said, "Jet?"

"No, I'm, uh. My name is Zuko, I found this phone on the ground and just called the last contact… Trying to get it back to whoever you said..."

"Oh, for crying out loud." The girl's voice was thick with exasperation. "This is typical. I'm so sorry for yelling like that. You have my boyfriend—well, my _ex_-boyfriend Jet's phone. Great, now I'll probably have to ask 'Bee or someone to… well, you don't have to hear about my problems. That was really nice of you, to pick it up. Not many people would have done that." Zuko was shocked to find himself practically glowing at this stranger's praise. This is what you get for doing a good deed, a suspiciously chipper part of his mind said.

"Well, I mean, it was just, I mean… So what's the best way to get it back to him?" He cleared his throat in a manful way. "We could, uh, meet somewhere and I could give it to you? Only then you'd have to see him..."

"Oh, well, I mean, I could just give it to one of his friends or something, since meeting is probably the, you know, most efficient… thing..."

Zuko had started to grin. "Okay! Are you… are you free? I'm west of downtown."

"I can take the bus over there!" The little silence after her enthusiastic outburst mad his grin widen.

"You know the Starbucks on Fourth and Rose? We could meet there…?"

"Maybe in an hour?"

"An hour," he agreed, downright beaming. The smile felt weird on his face, but he couldn't seem to stop.

"You said your name is Zuko?"

"That's right."

"I'm Katara."

"See you in an hour, Katara."

_That's_ what you get for doing a good deed, he told himself, and turned towards Fourth Street and Katara and a new life.

Several years later, her brother drunkenly and rather inaccurately recounted the story at their wedding, and a few years after that they joked about naming their newborn son Jet for helping them find each other.

**A/N**

**The fluff is strong and stupid with this one, folks, but I LOVE IT! I think this is my favorite idea out of the whole week. I hope you like it too!  
**

**All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom. **

**E.I. signing out**


	7. Easier

**Easier**

Katara did _not_ trust Zuko. No matter that he had helped fight off Combustion Man (sort of), or taken Aang to meet the dragons and not killed him or taken him captive (though probably only because he had something even more nefarious planned), she simply did not trust him. He was not a trustworthy person. She had learned that the hard way, just like with Jet, and she did not intend to change her position as easily and on such scant evidence as the rest of her friends had. _But he's so fun to tease_ indeed. Sokka really had to start taking things more seriously.

But despite her deep-seated and unshakable distrust, which nothing ever could or would dislodge, she was certain, she sometimes had to grudgingly, _privately_ admit that she was sometimes, a little, sort of glad he was there. Not because of who he was, certainly. Just that… there was another person to make sure everyone else did what they were supposed to. There was a person who helped her clean up dinner. There was another person as bad at telling jokes as she was. Some of this she resented: it was _her_ job to make sure Aang did all his training! Only _she_ knew how to pack the utensils away after the meal! _Her_ jokes were… well, she wasn't too mad about that one.

So, she hated his guts. Always had, always would. But at the same time, even though she would never ever admit it, she was just a teeny tiny little bit happy he was there. He made her life easier.

**A/N**

**Not ending on a masterpiece here, clearly, but I thought this was a sweet little idea that fit the prompt, so here we are. In my head this is set some time between The Firebending Masters and The Southern Raiders, so of course her opinions on him are going to change soon :P **

**But hooray for Zutara Week 2019! I'm proud of myself for writing something every day, even though I messed up almost half the days, but whatever, it's the thought that counts in this case! **

**All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom. **

**E.I. signing out**


End file.
